How do I stop my ears from getting sweaty/greasy while wearing large headphones?

Question

I use my headphones a lot and after several hours of wearing them, my ears and the skin around them feel greasy and dirty. When used for a very long time, it sometimes causes a burning sensation. I've tried regularly wiping the area clean but that doesn't help.

I suspect that the cause is the embouchure's which are made of a skin-like material and don't let air through, resulting in the skin getting sweaty like that.

How can I remove or decrease this negative effect while retaining the sound quality of headphones?

Answer 1

Put a couple of tissues on either side, and poke a small hole in the middle, so you don't dampen sound much.

That keeps it dry for a long time, but if they end up getting sweaty eventually, they're super easy to replace. If the set is tight enough, like it should be, you don't have to attach them.

This works because tissues are absorptive and breathable. A layer of two is often enough to keep things clean under normal use, but in heavy activity, this won't be a great solution.

Answer 2

For supra-aural and circum-aural headphones, you can try covering the embouchures with a cotton cloth. Baby wipes and similar products are made of such cloth. This will let your skin breathe somewhat, dramatically reducing the sweaty feeling, and not hindering the sound. If your cloths are too thin, use several, and if it's too thick and starts affecting the sound, just cut out the middle area where the speaker is, where your skin doesn't touch the headphones.

Answer 3

use silica packets. it will absorb all the moisture.